Be My Baby(Sitter)
by Monroe-Militia
Summary: Bass Monroe finds himself in over his head when Emma Bennett dies and he finds out that he has a son; a son that is now his responsibility. Bass knows that he needs a babysitter or someone to help him look after Connor, but finding one isn't that simple. So when his best friend suggests Charlie, Bass is eager to go along with the idea.
1. Chapter 1

Bass had been having absolutely no luck trying to find a babysitter for Connor. He'd only had his son for a little over a week and already one thing was becoming abundantly clear, Sebastian Monroe had no idea what he was doing and was in way over his head.

He knew that he needed a babysitter or someone to help him figure out what to do, but so far he'd had absolutely no luck trying to find one.

So when his best friend Miles pointed out that his niece Charlie was looking for a job, Bass took him up on his offer to ask if she'd be interested. After all, it was no secret that she'd had a big hand in raising her brother as a kid.

Bass knew that it was already bad enough to find his best friend's niece attractive and that it was even worse to hire her when he knew that, but he was desperate. After all, he was fairly sure that it wasn't normal for ten year-olds to live in an almost constant state of silence. Connor did occasionally speak up, but only when absolutely necessary.

* * *

When Charlie arrived at Bass's place, he was instantly overcome with a sense of relief. So far Connor had spent the entire night just sitting on the couch in absolute silence, doing nothing and looking miserable.  
He had channel surfed for a few minutes before he turned the TV back off and continued to sit in a depressed silence. Bass had attempted to talk to him, but mostly had just been ignored.

"Connor, Charlie's here!" Bass called out as he let her inside.

That earned him no response. The only acknowledgement that he received indicating that his son had heard him was Connor turning and looking over at Charlie disinterestedly before looking back away.

As soon as Bass had turned back to Charlie, while supressing a sigh at his son's lack of response, Connor's gaze went back to Charlie and he let a tiny bit of his curiosity show.

"He isn't what I'd call chatty," Bass commented.

At that, Connor rolled his eyes and then got up from his place on the couch to stalk over to a chair on the far side of the room before he went back to pretending that he didn't notice that the other two were there.

"What's in the bag?" Bass questioned, jutting his chin towards the bag that hung loosely on her shoulder.

Charlie's lips cracked into a mildly embarrassed smile as her eyes flicked down to look at her bag instead of having to meet Bass's eyes.

After a second, she seemed to gather her wits again and her smile widened a little as her gaze flickered back up to his.

"Well I remembered that there isn't exactly much for kids to do in your apartment," she admitted with a small chuckle as she set the bag down.

It was true. When she and Danny had been younger they had spent a fair amount of time with Bass and Miles at each of the men's apartments and their games tended to be made up on the spot and out of whatever they could find around them. Charlie had grown very adept at making games that could be played primarily with bottle caps.

At least that was until Miles had bought a GameCube for her and Danny to play on when they were over at his place. Charlie had a sneaking suspicion that Miles had just used that as an excuse for him to get drunk and play video games, but nevertheless Miles had gifted it to them when he eventually decided that it would get more play-time at their place.

Charlie opened her bag to reveal that very same game console, a little beaten up and old, but still perfectly functional.

Bass let out a laugh before commenting, "I remember this thing. Miles and I used to play drunken Mario Kart on it."

"I knew that was why he really bought it," Charlie commented. "Me and Danny haven't used it in years, so I figured that Connor might want it."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Bass told her, letting his exasperation make its way into his tone.

Needless to say, Bass was having a stressful couple of weeks between Emma's death, finding out that he has a son, trying to figure out how the hell to take care of a ten year-old, trying to find someone to help babysit, and falling horribly behind with work stuff. Even though he hadn't seen Emma in years, it still hurt finding out that she was dead. He couldn't imagine what losing her must have done to Connor. This entire situation was a mess for the kid and Bass had no idea what he could do to help. After all, he was a complete stranger to his son. They didn't even share a name and the one person that they had in common was gone forever.

Bass hovered for a few moments longer, feeling awkward and in the way, before he excused himself to go try and get some work done.

Once he was out of the room, Connor hesitantly rose from his chair and walked over to look in the bag that Charlie had brought. He spent a moment flipping through the few games that she had brought, noticing as he did so that there was more than one controller in the bag. He figured that probably meant that she intended to play with him. At least that might be a little less weird than just having her take over Bass's job of either trying to discretely stare at him in silence or completely ignore him.

Finally, after an admittedly long amount of time of looking through the bag, Connor tilted his head up to face Charlie as he pulled the Mario Kart box out and quietly asked, "Want to play?"

A wide smile formed on Charlie's lips as she told him, "I'd love to. Although I'll warn you, I used to be pretty good at this game."

She had been pretty good when versing her younger brother, but what she failed to mention was that the only reason that she had managed to regularly beat Miles was through cheating by blocking his view or trying to kick or elbow him to mess him up. When Rachel was there she would always try and scold Charlie, but Miles would just laugh and praise Charlie on her competitiveness.

Connor remained quiet, not seeming to have anything to say now that she had agreed to play, as Charlie hooked the system up.

After they had played a few races, she managed to get a few smiles out of him as he made his way into first and a few laughs as she complained about getting hit by items.

They were pretty evenly matched and they'd both won a few games when Charlie turned to him and asked, "I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"

He shrugged and told her, "A little."

Truth be told he was pretty hungry, but he still felt awkward in this place. It was as if he was just a temporary guest in what was supposed to be his new home.

"You like pizza, right?" She questioned.

"Yeah," he responded.

"Well then I'll make you a deal. We play one more race and whoever wins gets to choose what kind of pizza I order," Charlie told him.

Connor smirked, seeming to like the agreement. He was thrilled at the opportunity to order pizza instead of having to eat any more of the Kraft Dinner that Bass had made every night since he'd been there. Bass didn't even know what the kid like to eat and he figured that all kids loved macaroni and cheese. So, with that logic in mind, he had decided to make it every night since he had no idea what else to make for Connor.

* * *

Bass had managed to get some work done and decided to give up for the time being. As he walked through the halls towards the kitchen, he heard noise coming from the living room. Not just game sounds either, voices. So far Connor had only seemed to talk when it was absolutely mandatory and seemed to be fairly miserable, so it was needless to say that it was a surprise for him to hear Connor laughing as Charlie called out in disappointment as he passed the room.

He watched the pair playing from the hallway for a few moments, feeling a mixed swirl of emotions. On the one hand, he was glad to see Connor actually seeming to be enjoying himself and part of the reason that he had Charlie here was to try and figure out how to take care of the kid and cheer him up. But at the same time, he was ashamed to admit to himself that part of him was bothered to see Connor having fun playing games with Charlie when he had just met her an hour ago while the kid could barely seem to tolerate looking at Bass for more than a few seconds at a time.

Bass shook his head to himself as he decided that he needed a drink and turned to head for the kitchen.

* * *

Charlie had managed to get back into the lead for most of the last lap, but at the last moment Connor had managed to hit her with a shell and pull in front of her right before the finish line.

"So close," Charlie told herself in a defeated tone before a smile formed on her lips. "So what kind of victory pizza do you want?"

Connor considered for a minute before he told her, "Pepperoni."

"Good choice," Charlie told him. "That's what I was going to choose too if I won… I'll be back."

With that she got up from the couch and left the room, heading for the kitchen.

* * *

When she walked into the kitchen, she found Bass leaning against the counter with a freshly opened bottle of beer and a look of defeat. Funny, she's the one who had just lost and yet he seemed to look much more beaten down than she did.

"Are you hungry?" She asked him and he nodded in response. "So is Connor. I was just going to order a pizza. Is pepperoni good?"

"Yeah," Bass responded. There was a short silence before he let out a weak laugh and took a quick chug out of his drink. "How do you do it, Charlie?"

"Do what?" She questioned.

"Connor's been living here for over a week and the most that I can get out of him is the occasional brief answer or nod or shrug," he explained. "You've been here for an hour and he's already warming up to you while I'm still just the unfortunate roommate."

"He also doesn't have to live with me," Charlie pointed out. "I'm temporary. You're the stranger that he's stuck with for good. Things are bound to be a little awkward at first, but come on. He'll get used to you."

"Yeah, I guess," Bass responded in a less than convincing tone before taking a chug of his drink and deciding to change the subject. "So… Pizza."

* * *

When the pizza arrived, the three of them ate in the living room while watching TV. After they finished, Charlie and Connor remained on the couch as Bass left the room, taking the garbage with him to clean up.

There was a brief silence before Connor asked, "Want to play again?"

"I don't know if I can handle losing again," Charlie told him with a smile. "Why don't you check if your dad wants to play?"

There was a pause before Connor responded bitterly, "Not likely… He's too busy with all of his adult stuff to even bother paying attention to me… He doesn't want me. He's too mature to deal with having a kid around."

Charlie cracked up a little at that, earning her an annoyed look from Connor.

"Sorry," she told him. "It's just that I've known your dad for a long time and, trust me, mature is not a word that I would use to describe him... Look, he didn't even know about you until after-"

She cut herself off.

"You can say it," he told her. "It's not like my mom's going to come back if you don't say that she's dead."

Charlie shot him a sympathetic look before she told him, "He's trying, but he doesn't really know what he's doing… It's weird for him too."

After a few seconds, Connor decided to go at least try and ask. He figured at the very least he would be able to end this conversation with Charlie before she would start trying to talk to him about his feelings after everything that had happened.

* * *

Bass was pleasantly surprised when Connor came into the kitchen and asked if he wanted to play Mario Kart, keeping his hands in his pockets and his facial expression indifferent as he spoke.

Bass knew for sure that Charlie had something to do with the request when he re-entered the living room with his son and she shot them both a wide grin.

When the duo first began to play it was very quiet, but by the time that they had finished a couple of races there was a smile on both of their faces and some of the tension had begun to defuse between them.

Charlie smiled a little to herself thinking that as far as first days on a job went, this had been a pretty good one.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! I hope that you guys liked the first chapter :) Also this fanfiction is dedicated to sammxhill and asweetdeception for giving me the idea :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie had been Connor's babysitter for a little over a week when Miles' birthday came around. Connor was still pretty quiet and still felt more like a temporary guest in his new home than anything, but he had started to warm up to Bass a little. They now managed to get through small talk fairly successfully and had a sort of understanding.

"You're going to like Miles," Bass assured his son.

Connor didn't see why his dad seemed to think that. Bass had been talking about Miles far too much lately for Connor's liking. Connor didn't even know the guy and he was not looking forward to meeting him in the slightest.

* * *

"Danny!" Charlie called out excitedly the instant that she walked around the corner of her parent's house.

She hadn't seen her brother anywhere near enough since she had moved out to live in her own apartment, so any chance that she got to see him was exciting for her.

As he watched Charlie run over to hug her brother, Miles sarcastically commented, "I thought it was my birthday."

Charlie heard him, so as soon as she was done hugging her little brother she turned around and gave her uncle a big hug.

"Happy birthday, Miles."

"Eh, it's alright I guess," he responded as if she had been asking him a question.

Charlie rolled her eyes at that before looking around. Besides her family, Aaron and Maggie were already there. Aaron was a friend of her dad's that had used to babysit her and Danny when they were little and had become like a part of the family. Maggie lived in the house next door and Charlie hadn't been able to stand her at first. She had thought that Maggie was nosey and annoying, but had learned afterwards that she was just lonely because she lived so far from her family. Now Maggie was practically like a second mom to her and Danny.

* * *

When the car stopped Connor was less than eager to get out. He had no desire to go to Miles' birthday.

Wasn't it a little weird to go to the birthday party of someone that you don't even know?

He wasn't looking forward to having to deal with a whole bunch of strangers feeling sorry for him because of his mom. Plus everyone there would know each other but him… At least Charlie would be there though. That should at least make things a little less terrible.

Connor followed his dad as he walked around to the Matheson backyard. As they walked in, five adults who Connor had never seen before all simultaneously turned to stare at him in silence.

At least the teenager Charlie was sitting with didn't seem to be staring, but Connor still wished that he could just go back to the car...

* * *

Charlie had been catching up with Danny, but as soon as she saw Bass and Connor she turned to her little brother with a grin and told him, "I have to go, my new best friend's here."

"What? You replaced me?" Danny asked in a playfully offended tone.

"Sorry, he's cuter than you," Charlie responded, shoving her brother's shoulder on her way past him.

"What?" Danny called out after his sister as she began to walk away. "I'm adorable!"

Charlie began to laugh loudly as she continued to walk away from him.

"Come on, Charlie. Admit it! I'm adorable and you know it!" Danny shouted after her with a grin.

Charlie turned around to look at him as she continued to walk, now backwards.

She called back, "Fine, you're the second cutest person I know."

"I'm the cutest, right?" Miles questioned with a smirk.

"Not even close," Charlie told him as she stopped and turned to look at him. "You're like bottom three."

"Wow. Aren't you going to be nice to me today?" Miles asked in a tone of mock hurt.

"Do you want me to answer that?" Charlie questioned.

"Not really."

"That's what I thought," she responded smugly before turning to walk the last few steps over to Connor.

Connor wasn't sure how to feel about how easily Charlie was interacting with everyone.

He already felt so incredibly out of place as his dad started heading away from him over to Miles.

"So you actually do have a kid," Rachel commented as Bass passed by her. "I wasn't sure that Charlie wasn't just babysitting you."

"No, she babysits us both," Bass responded with a smirk.

"Hey, I'm going to get something to drink," Charlie told Connor. "You want to come with me and get something?"

"Yeah," he answered.

He was relieved to get away from the others, if only for a minute.

When Danny noticed that Charlie was leading Connor inside, he called over, "Hey, Charlie. Get me a beer."

"_Don't_ get him a beer," Rachel instantly called out after him, causing Danny to grin widely.

"Get me something," Danny told his sister.

"Only because you're so adorable," she called back to him before stepping into the house.

Once inside, she turned to Connor and told him, "The ones who falsely think that they're cuter than you are Miles and my brother, Danny. And then my mom was the one that didn't want me getting Danny a beer."

"What about the other ones?" Connor asked.

Charlie walked past the cake that was sitting in a box on the table and opened up the fridge. "The other girl is Maggie. And then the guy with the beard is Aaron. And the other one's my dad… Is Coke good?"

"Yeah," Connor responded and then paused for a moment. "…I don't even know what I'm doing here. I don't even know your uncle."

"Well it's not like your dad had a babysitter for you today," she joked with a grin as she handed him his drink. "Besides, Miles' birthday is kind of a family thing."

"Which means that I shouldn't be here even more," Connor pointed out as she grabbed two more bottles of Coke for her and Danny.

"The opposite actually," she told him. "Maggie and Aaron and your dad aren't technically family, but they're as close as you can get without actually being related. Your dad and Miles are best friends, practically brothers. You're his kid. That makes you family too. So of course you're supposed to be here."

Connor didn't see it. He was barely family with his own father. These people weren't his family, they were Charlie's.

"Now come on, I've got to go give my brat of a brother his drink," she said with a smile.

* * *

"Finally I get to meet the kid," Miles commented. "…Whenever Charlie quits hogging him."

"Good luck with that," Bass told him.

"What?" Miles asked.

"I told you about how unsocial he is," Bass responded. "I don't know how much meeting him is going to really be worth. He might not say anything. And if you're planning on waiting for him to be away from Charlie, you're going to be waiting a while. The kid loves her."

"I can't really blame him," Miles pointed out as he watched Charlie and Connor walk back out of the house.

* * *

"When did Grandpa get here?" Charlie asked as she sat back down next to her brother and handed him his drink.

"While you were inside," Danny responded. "When do you think?"

She elbowed him in the side and he immediately elbowed her back.

"So then it's just Nora that's missing," Charlie commented.

"Miles said she's going to be late," Danny told his sister.

"Who's Nora?" Connor asked in a quieter voice now that he was in front of Danny.

"Miles' girlfriend," Charlie answered. "They've been dating forever, although they've had more than their share of dramatic breakups."

"I still say that they're eventually just going to end up getting married only because she knows that he's never going to propose and takes charge," Danny responded.

"He might propose," Charlie argued. "When he's like sixty. Or drunk."

"Or sixty and drunk," Danny suggested.

"Or on a bet," Charlie added.

"No, it's going to be a game of chicken that ends in them getting married because neither of them is willing to back out," Danny said with a grin.

Connor remained silent since he had nothing to contribute to the conversation, even if he wanted to.

* * *

"Go get me a beer, Bass," Miles ordered.

"Why don't _you_ get _me_ a beer?" His friend questioned.

"Because it's my birthday," Miles pointed out. "That makes everyone else my slaves for the day."

"You should try using that line on Rachel or Maggie and see if you even make it back alive to tell me the story," Bass suggested.

Miles knew that Bass was right about those two and that the chances of Ben getting them drinks were low, so he decided to call over to his niece.

"Hey, Charlie! Want to get us some beers?"

"Get them yourselves," Charlie called back.

"Come on, you got Danny a drink," her uncle complained. "…You'd be my favourite niece."

"I'm your only niece," Charlie retorted.

"Fine, then I'll like you better than Danny," Miles offered.

"Wow, I am just getting demoted all over the place today," Danny remarked.

"Well don't feel too bad," Charlie said, fluffing her little brother's hair up as she stood up. "Miles is just lying to make me get him stuff... And besides-" She grinned over at her brother. "-I was always his favourite."

Connor wasn't thrilled that he was being left alone with Danny.

"So, how old are you?" The older boy asked after a few long seconds.

"Ten," Connor responded. There was a silence long enough for him to feel uncomfortable before he asked, "What about you?"

"Nineteen," Danny responded. "But everyone here still seems to think that I'm a little kid."

Connor nodded and then went back to sitting in silence and staring off somewhere else.

* * *

When Charlie reached Miles and Bass with their drinks, she immediately pulled the bottles back as soon as the two men tried to grab them.

"First you two both have to agree to get your own drinks from now on," she told them.

Charlie and Bass hadn't really hung out together without Miles before Connor, but they had become closer during the last week. Bass knew not to mess with her, so he just agreed and was instantly handed his beer.

Miles, on the other hand, just sat in silence as he held eye contact with Charlie.

"I can sit here all day," he told her after at least half a minute had passed.

"And I can stand here all day, Miles," she retorted as she opened the beer that still remained in her hand. "I've even got a drink."

Miles continued to look at her challengingly, so Charlie brought Miles' beer to her lips and began to drink.

"Alright, fine," he said before she had managed to even get more than half a sip down. "I'll make someone else get my drinks from now on… Are you happy, Buzzkill?"

"Close enough," she told him before handing his drink over.

* * *

Connor and Danny had been sitting in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. Connor felt no need to try and talk to him and Danny had no idea what to do with Connor, so they just remained silent as Connor stared over at where Charlie was now sitting with his father and Miles, smiling and laughing.

Connor hated being here. He hated being left alone with strangers and he hated having to make small talk with them. Just like he hated having to watch just how well everyone else here knew each other and he hated how his dad hadn't said a word to him or even paid any attention to him since they'd shown up. And he especially hated the way that Miles was hogging Charlie and his dad and how they were too busy laughing at some stupid thing that stupid Miles had just said to even notice that he was upset. And absolutely most of all, he hated Miles Matheson.

He didn't want to watch them anymore and he wanted to get away from Danny before he would ask another question that was just designed to fill the silence. No one here cared about him, so why should he pretend to care about any of them?

They weren't his family. His dad barely counted and everyone else wasn't his family at all. His mom was his family, but she was gone. And now he was stuck at this stupid party with these stupid strangers all because of stupid Miles.

Connor got up and walked away, heading towards the house.

* * *

"Hey, where's your kid going?" Miles asked when he noticed Connor angrily stalking away from Danny. "He looks pissed."

"Don't know," Bass responded. "I'd better go check."

Charlie had been busy shooting her brother a questioning glance, but when Danny shot her a confused shrug back she turned and offered, "I'll go."

On her way to the house, she stopped next to her brother and asked him, "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Danny responded defensively. "I swear."

* * *

Connor hadn't known where he was going until he was already back inside the kitchen and spotted the cake on the table. He eyed the icing that spelled out _Happy Birthday Miles_ for a moment before his anger took over and he shoved the cake off of the edge of the table and onto the floor.

He felt better for about half a second until he heard the sound of the door opening behind him and fear took over.

He turned around to see Charlie standing in the doorway and shot her a guilty look. He didn't regret ruining the cake, but he did feel guilty about Charlie catching him in the act.

"I don't want to be here anymore," he offered as explanation when she stepped into the kitchen.

Charlie took in the scene around her and then made a quick decision as her mother walked into the room from the opposite doorway.

"What happened in here?" Rachel questioned as she looked at the bits of cake all over the floor.

Connor turned to Charlie, waiting to see what she would say.

To his surprise, she responded with, "I forgot that the cake was there and elbowed it off the table. Sorry… I'll go to the store for another one."

Rachel eyed the pair for a few seconds before she told her daughter, "Alright. Go now… I'll clean this mess up while you're gone."

"Thanks," Charlie said in a relieved tone before turning to Connor. "Do you want to come with me?"

He nodded his head, not seeming to want to speak or make eye contact with either of the Matheson women.

Charlie turned to head for the door, but as Connor began to follow her Rachel said, "Charlie. Stay here a second."

Charlie turned to Connor and he walked out of the door to wait for her outside.

"What?" Charlie asked as she began to walk back into the kitchen once he was out of sight.

"You weren't the one who knocked the cake over," her mother stated. "Were you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Charlie insisted.

"I know that you're covering for him," Rachel pointed out. "I've seen you do the same for Danny a hundred times. I can tell."

"It was an accident," Charlie said, giving up on trying to convince her mom that it hadn't been Connor and deciding on a different strategy. "The kid's already having a tough day. I figured that I could cut him a little slack and not get him in trouble from people that he barely even knows over an accident. So can we please not make this a thing?"

"Okay," Rachel agreed before letting out a small sigh. "You should go. I've got a lot to clean up."

"Thanks, Mom," Charlie told her, really meaning it.

Once she was outside and had caught up to Connor she told him, "I just have to talk to your dad for a second first."

Great... Maybe Charlie had covered for Connor in front of her mom, but he was sure that she was about to go sell him out now... In front of Miles.

Whatever. He didn't care. Nope. He'd go over there with her. He didn't care if Miles knew that he hated him. In fact he wanted Miles to know. He wanted everyone to know. Maybe if he was lucky he would get kicked out of this stupid party. What did he care if his dad found out what he'd done?

Connor nervously followed a few steps behind Charlie until she had stopped in front of the two men. He hesitated a few feet behind her, just close enough to hear.

He shot Miles a quick glare, but as soon as Charlie began to speak his gaze shifted downwards to stare at the ground. Okay, maybe he was still afraid of getting in trouble. Things with his dad were already weird enough without him ruining everything.

Luckily for him, Charlie once again surprised him.

"I've got to run to the store, is it alright if Connor comes along?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure," Bass told her.

Connor felt relief wash over him when that seemed to be the end of the conversation as Charlie turned to him and said, "Let's go."

* * *

The first few minutes of the car ride were spent in complete silence before Connor finally got up the nerve to ask, "Why did you cover for me?"

"You seem like you're already having a bad enough day," she told him. "You didn't need anything else added to that."

"Thanks," he murmured quietly.

"So why did you do it?" Charlie questioned after a pause. "I mean I get that you didn't want to be there anymore because you barely know anyone. I just don't see the connection between that and smashing Miles' cake."

They were in the grocery store parking lot now, but she wasn't planning on getting out of the car until she figured out what was wrong.

"It's your stupid uncle's birthday, isn't it?" Connor muttered, looking out the window as if the other parked cars had suddenly become infinitely interesting to him. "And my dad's been driving me insane telling me how much I'm going to like Miles for days... And now he's completely ignoring me for Miles. And I don't see why I had to go. Obviously they'd both be happier if I'd stayed home… And I hate Miles."

Charlie hesitated for a moment, trying to decide where to start.

"I think that your dad was just excited about you meeting Miles because you're both important to him."

"No, I'm not," Connor argued, still keeping his attention fully on the outside of the window.

"Yes, you are," Charlie insisted. "And he isn't ignoring you for Miles. It's Miles' birthday. People are going to pay attention to him."

"My dad hasn't said anything to me since we got there. He just walked off to go see Miles," Connor pointed out.

Charlie made a mental note to try and hint at Bass to pay more attention to his son once they got back. But for now the best that she could do was try to talk to Connor.

"I'm sure that he isn't trying to ignore you," she told him. "And he and Miles wouldn't be happier if you hadn't gone. Miles told your dad to bring you. He was excited to finally get to meet you just like your dad was excited to have you two meet."

Connor shrugged, clearly not wanting to believe her.

"You don't have to like Miles, but you should at least give him a chance," she told him. "Okay?"

"Fine," Connor mumbled unenthusiastically.

* * *

By the time that they got back, Ben had already fired up the barbecue.

As Charlie went to go take the bag with the new cake to the kitchen, Bass called out, "Hey Connor, get over here before Charlie tries to steal you again."

Charlie paused in the doorway to shoot Bass a grin. She hadn't even had to hint at him to pay attention to Connor.

He smiled back over at her before she turned inside the door.

Connor walked over and sat down next to his dad, still feeling uncertain but a little bit better. He wasn't eager about Miles being there, but he had told Charlie that he'd at least give her uncle a chance.

"About time I get to meet the kid," Miles commented. "Especially with how much you talk about him."

Connor was surprised by that. Maybe his dad talking about Miles to him all the time wasn't quite as bad if he did the same about him to Miles…

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! Also a huge thanks for reviewing the first chapter goes out to BassCharlie, Daedalos, LemonSupreme, driver picks the music, TwistedType, IceonFire7, JM2788, and the three guest reviewers :)  
**


	3. Chapter 3

When some of the food was cooked, Bass checked what Connor wanted and then went to go get food for them and Miles, who insisted that he shouldn't have to get up on his birthday.

"You know, you're getting pretty good at this whole dad thing," Charlie commented as soon as he got within earshot.

"No, I'm really not," Bass responded with a slight smile. "You're good with Connor. I'm barely getting by."

"Don't sell yourself short," she told him with a grin. "He likes you."

With that said, she walked away before he could try and argue with her.

* * *

"Kid, if you're ever looking for an embarrassing story about your dad, then I am definitely the person to come to," Miles told Connor with a grin as Bass walked back over carrying three plates of food.

"I dare you to think of one embarrassing story you've got on me that isn't also embarrassing for you," Bass challenged as he handed out the food.

As Miles grabbed his plate from his friend, a tilted smirk formed on his lips. "You'd make a great waitress, Bass."

"Thanks," the other man muttered back sarcastically as he sat down. "I take tips."

"Not that great," Miles assured him.

"So I take it this means that you can't think of any stories that aren't embarrassing for you too?" Bass questioned.

"I'm thinking," Miles responded.

"I guess there's a first for everything then," Danny commented as he and Charlie walked up with their plates.

Charlie grinned at her brother's joke as she sat down.

"Here, kid, your mom's not looking," Miles told Danny as he handed his beer over. "Since you're such a pleasure to be around."

Danny let out a small laugh before taking a large chug out of his uncle's beer.

"She's turning this way," Miles warned after a minute or so. "Quick, give it back before we're both dead."

Danny obeyed before turning to his sister and telling her, "I think I like Miles better than you now... He actually got me a beer. Plus you gave Connor my spot as favourite."

Connor didn't seem to feel very bad about stealing Danny's position, since he just smirked over at the Matheson siblings with an air of triumph.

"Mom was watching me like a hawk," Charlie pointed out in an amused tone. "What, was I supposed to do? Spike your drink? And at least you're still my second favourite."

"I'm third, right?" Miles questioned.

"Yeah. It goes Connor first, then everyone else tied for second, and then you," Charlie informed him with a playful grin.

"I remember when you were little and used to be nice to me," Miles commented.

"You know I love you, Miles," Charlie told him with a grin. "And with that in mind, are you ready to get your ass-kicked playing football again?"

"Again?" Miles asked in a tone of disbelief. "Sorry, you must be delusional."

"You two have this argument every year," Bass pointed out. "Every _single_ year since she was younger than Connor."

"So I'm guessing we're playing tackle this year, since you're so cocky," Miles told his niece sarcastically.

"Sorry, we can't," Charlie told him in a tone of false sympathy. "I'm too afraid that you might break a hip, old man."

"Alright, that's it," Miles said as he set his plate aside and rose to his feet.

"What are you doing?" Charlie questioned nervously as her uncle moved towards her.

Miles just smirked at his niece in response before grabbing her and lifting her off the ground, causing her to emit a small shriek of laughter.

"Miles, stop!" Charlie complained through her laughter as he threw her over his shoulder.

He didn't listen and instead turned to walk away from the rest of the group.

As Charlie flailed in his arms, she demanded, "Where are we going?"

"Not we, _you_," Miles told her. "You're going into Maggie's pool."

The pool in Maggie's backyard, along with her letting the Mathesons use it whenever they wanted, had been a major part of what had sold Danny on Maggie when she had first moved in.

"No, don't!" Charlie threatened through her laughter. "_Miles!"_

Miles paused a few steps away from the pool as he told her, "If you don't want thrown in, then you'd better start making up for that old man comment."

"Fine!" Charlie shouted out in a rushed panic. "I take it back! You're not an old man, you're as young as you are mature! You make Connor look ancient!"

There was a brief pause before Miles dropped her.

Charlie clenched her eyes shut, only to be caught a few inches lower by her uncle. He had just been pretending to drop her to scare her.

"You'd better get far from this pool before I change my mind," Miles warned her as he set her down on the ground.

Charlie rushed a few short steps away before turning to face him once again, a small smirk forming on her lips.

"Go ahead, push me in," Miles encouraged as he stretched his arms out to the sides. "You and Danny are going to soak me once Nora gets here anyways."

Charlie moved to charge at him, but stopped as soon as Miles' arms moved to try and grab onto her.

She backed away a few steps before she told him, "Alright, fine. Truce for now?"

"At least until we finish eating," Miles agreed.

* * *

"Well I guess we know who bought the cake," Miles pointed out as he stared down at the frosting letters that spelled out 'Happy Birthday, Old Man'.

Charlie shot him a wide grin of innocence as Connor looked down at the ground.

* * *

"It's my birthday, which means that I get to choose first."

"Said like the mature adult you are," Charlie complimented her uncle.

Every year they had a small football game that became more than a little competitive. They were choosing teams now and Charlie was the other team captain, as she had been for the last several years.

"Bass," Miles chose first, unsurprisingly.

"Well then I choose Danny," Charlie responded.

"Smart choice, Charlie," Danny told his sister sarcastically. "Choose the kid with asthma first."

It was Miles' turn to choose next.

"I'll take Connor."

Connor was surprised, but didn't say anything about it. He still wasn't a fan of Miles, but the guy wasn't quite as intolerable as Connor had first thought.

"Then I take Grandpa," Charlie replied.

"Seriously? Danny and Gene?" Miles questioned. "Are you trying to lose, Charlie?"

"I don't think I'm playing this year," Gene told them. "I am getting way too old for this."

"Oh, come on," Charlie begged. "Don't you want the chance to knock that smug look off of Miles' face?"

"...Sorry, kiddo. I'm going to have to sit this one out and let you do that for yourself," Gene told her.

"Alright, then I'll take dad," Charlie said with a grin. "Your pick, Miles."

"Rachel," Miles selected, glad to have her competitiveness on his team.

Maggie never played, she always just reffed for when there were huge disagreements instead and preferred it that way. That left just one person.

"Hey, last to get picked. It's just like high-school all over again," Aaron commented. "But I think that I'm going to have to agree with Gene on this one and sit this year out."

The Mathesons and Bass were all very competitive and Aaron very much was not a sports guy, so he was more than happy to sit the game out.

Charlie was down a player, but quickly found a solution as a figure turned the corner into the yard.

"Nora!" Charlie called out happily. "You're just in time. Come join my team and help kick your boyfriend's ass!"

A grin formed on Nora's lips as she responded, "You had me at boyfriend's ass."

* * *

They had been playing for a few minutes and Miles' team was in the lead, thanks to Bass and Miles' seemingly psychic ability to predict exactly what the other was going to do.

Danny had the ball and was running, but when Miles began to head towards him, the teenager began to cough and slowed to a stop.

As Miles reached out a hand to him, Danny fell into a violent coughing fit and hunched over, dodging Miles' hand as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Shit, are you alright?" Miles asked as Rachel, who had been covering Charlie, began to rush over to her child with concern written all over her face.

A smirk formed on Danny's lips as he suddenly cut off his fit mid-cough and quickly threw the ball over to Charlie, who was now open and scored a touchdown.

Miles shoved his nephew roughly in the chest. "You cheating little-"

His words were cut off when Danny stumbled back a step and erupted into a whole new fit of coughing.

"...I'm not ...Kidding ...This ...Time." Danny wheezed out between coughs and gasps for air. "...Can't ...Breathe ...Mom..."

"What the hell did you do to him, Miles?" Rachel demanded, her tone a mixture of anger and panic.

Danny stopped coughing once again and straightened his body to show off a wide grin.

He had taken his inhaler before the game and was doing pretty well with the running. He had just decided to use his asthma as an advantage in the game, as well as to mess with his uncle.

He let out a laugh at the look on his mother and uncle's faces as Charlie walked back over and high-fived him on her way by.

* * *

A while later, when Miles had the ball, Nora tackled him to the ground to stop him.

"You do realize that we're playing touch football, right?" He questioned after she landed sprawled on top of him.

"I know," she responded with a smirk.

She brought her lips to his for a quick kiss before moving to get up.

* * *

Connor was not having fun. In fact, he had reached the point in the game where he either didn't move or just slowly walked since he knew that there was no point in even trying.

Sure, no one ever covered him. But what was the point of moving when you were the ten year-old that no one ever passed to, no matter how open you were?

He was debating quitting playing. After all, what was the point? He could get excluded just as much sitting over with Aaron, Gene, and Maggie as he was getting over here.

It wasn't so much that they were intentionally excluding him, although it sure felt like it, as it was that he was short and difficult to spot past the other players.

Just as Connor was about to give up on ever getting the ball, Miles panicked when about to be tagged by his brother and just threw it to where he had hoped that Bass would be.

As the ball flew through the air in a high ark to the end zone, where no one was standing, Connor took matters into his own hands and charged over there.

He made it just in time to dive and catch the ball.

That finally captured him some attention.

"He definitely got that from me," Bass bragged, causing a sheepish grin to form on his son's lips.

After that, Connor did manage to get the ball more often and actually began to maybe enjoy himself a little.

* * *

By the time the game ended, everyone was exhausted and no one was sure what exactly the score was. That didn't stop Miles and Charlie from both insisting that their teams had been the victors though.

As everyone was relaxing after the game, the two youngest Mathesons and Nora snuck off together into the house.

"Well, Nora's here and those three are off alone," Miles commented as he rose to his feet. "Time to go get my defense ready while they plan their attack."

"Dude, please tell me that you brought a change of clothes this year," Bass begged.

"Nope," Miles told him matter-of-factly. "Bringing spare clothes is like admitting defeat."

"If you say so," Bass responded as his friend began to walk away. "Have fun in your soaked clothes later."

"What's going on?" Connor questioned.

"Every year Charlie, Nora, and Danny sneak attack Miles with water guns," Bass explained. "So when they go off to coordinate their attack, he goes to his car and gets his own water gun and hides it where he can get it when he sees them trying to sneak up. And every year he's falsely convinced that he's not going to get soaked this time."

* * *

"We are definitely running out of ways to sneak up on him," Charlie commented as she lay sprawled across her old bed on her stomach.

"It's an annual thing," Nora pointed out from where she sat cross-legged on the corner of Charlie's bed. "That makes it kind of difficult to effectively sneak up on him when he's always watching for it."

"Plus, we don't know where he's hiding his gun," Danny, who was seated on top of an old wooden dresser, pointed out. "You'd think he'd be running out of good hiding places by now."

"Or that you two would be able to find it when it's your house," Nora added. "Well, not yours anymore, Charlie. But still, you should be able to find it at least once."

"I swear Miles comes in the middle of the night and just spends hours searching for the perfect spot," Charlie responded.

"Actually he hides it while you guys have this conversation," Connor said from where he now stood hovering in the doorway, seeming a little unsure of whether or not to enter the room. "And I just saw where he hid it."

Nora and Danny looked over at him in surprise as Charlie began to grin.

"I bet that he would never see an attack coming if he could see all three of you," Connor added, feeling a little nervous.

He felt a little like he was intruding on their tradition and wasn't sure whether his help was welcome or not.

"So this is Bass's kid?" Nora questioned. "I think I like him better than his dad."

A smirk formed on Connor's lips at that.

* * *

"Is it just me or are they more obvious than usual this year?" Miles asked as he watched his three opponents walk to sit down a little ways away with their weapons blatantly hidden behind their backs. "They're so obvious, that I may actually get to strike first this year."

After Miles got up and began to walk over to where he had hidden his gun, the other three rose to their feet to follow him.

Miles quickened his pace as he turned the corner behind the shed with a smirk on his face. He didn't get more than two steps around the turn before the smirk fell from his lips.

Well, there was his water gun. There was just one slight complication, the grinning ten year-old holding it.

As Connor began to shoot, Miles turned back around the corner only to be surrounded a few steps later while completely unarmed.

As he was attacked from all sides, Bass decided to give Miles some help since he was so outnumbered.

As Miles focused on trying to wrestle Nora into stopping shooting him, Charlie turned her gun on Bass as he headed over.

She didn't have much water left though, so she decided for a strategic hit to the crotch of his pants.

As she began to laugh, Bass grabbed Charlie's water gun out of her hand before grabbing her by the waist and pulling her against him so that she couldn't escape as he turned her own weapon against her.  
She only began to laugh louder when he pulled the trigger only to discover that her gun was out of water.

"Plan B then," Bass told her, his lips just inches from her ear as he tossed the empty water gun aside.

Charlie didn't get the chance to calm down enough to ask what Plan B was before he had bent down and grabbed her under the knees to scoop her off of her feet.

"I guess you're going in the pool after all," he told her with a grin.

"Bass, don't," she insisted as he headed for Maggie's back yard. "Please!"

He stopped when he reached the edge of the pool, letting the suspense get to her.

"Alright, I'm sorry," she insisted through laughter as she turned to bury her face in his chest instead of facing the water. "Just please don't."

Bass let out a small sigh.

He began to set her down as he told her, "You'd better consider yourself lucky, Cha-"

He didn't get any further since, as soon as she was on the ground, Charlie grabbed onto the front of his shirt and pulled him backwards. She purposely threw them both into the pool before he could finish speaking.

She resurfaced shivering as she complained, "This pool is freezing."

"You threw yourself in it," Bass pointed out as he pushed his wet hair back out of his face with one hand.

"Yeah, but I still have a change of clothes here," Charlie retorted in a victorious tone as she began to head for the edge of the pool. "You don't. I'm pretty sure that means I win."

"Hey, at least it's better than the wet crotch look you gave me," Bass commented as he pulled himself up, out of the pool.

Charlie let out a loud laugh at that, her head falling backwards from it.

Once she was done laughing, he crouched down and offered out his hand to help her out of the pool.

She took it and couldn't help, but notice the muscles where his wet shirt clung to him as he pulled her up.

* * *

Bass and Miles had both ended up having to borrow dry clothes from Ben, which amused Charlie to no end since neither was very happy about it.

When the party was almost over, Charlie walked into the kitchen to find Bass grabbing himself and Miles each yet another beer.

"Nice outfit," she told him in an amused tone.

He set the beers down on the counter as he turned to face her.

While he and Miles were walking around looking like complete idiots in their borrowed clothes, Charlie was looking stunning as ever... Maybe even more so than usual.

He definitely didn't understand why she'd left the tight black jeans and blue tank top behind when she had moved out because she looked amazing in them right now. Her hair had nearly finished drying and had a slight curl that he was finding proved to be very distracting as he looked at her, searching for the words to form a response.

"We can't all look as good as you," he told her.

"Maybe the clothes aren't the perfect fit and look a little out of place on you," Charlie admitted. "But you still look pretty good."

Bass smiled at her.

"I'm sure Connor was thrilled that you guys let him trap Miles," he told her as he leaned his weight back against the counter.

"It was his idea," Charlie responded with a big smile. "He came to us with a plan and information after his dad told him all about the soak the hell out of Miles tradition."

"It was a good plan," Bass pointed out proudly as he leaned forward again.

"He's a smart kid," she agreed. "And you are definitely getting pretty good at the whole parent thing."

Bass hesitated for a moment before he took a step forward and pulled her into a kiss, bringing a hand up to her cheek as he did so.

She could taste the beer on his mouth as she tentatively kissed back.

He pulled away suddenly, leaving them both out of breath, and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Shit, Charlie," he said, still close enough that she could feel his breath when he spoke. "I shouldn't have done that. I was drinking and I _really_ shouldn't have done that."

He turned away and headed back over to the counter. He figured he'd had enough, so he put his own beer back before grabbing Miles'.

"Hey, Bass?" She asked, causing him to pause in the doorway and turn back to look at her.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Do me a favour. Tell me whether you still think that was a mistake or not after you sober up."

He nodded then hesitated in the doorway for a few more seconds as he stared over at her before he finally stepped back outside.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! Also an uber big thanks goes out to Estel la Rodeuse, CharloeForever, LemonSupreme, BassCharlie, TwistedType, Daedalos, driver picks the music, IceonFire7, and perfectmanhattan for reviewing the second chapter. :)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

Connor didn't like his new school at all. He didn't know anyone here and there were a couple of kids that were real jerks that he couldn't stand being around. And yet, somehow, he had been invited to the birthday party of a kid that he had spoken to only once... But hey, that was still more than he had talked to Miles before attending his birthday.

For the most part Connor just ignored the kids who were jerks. In fact, that was his original plan when an especially annoying kid loudly commented, "I heard that Connor kid got invited. I guess that Scanlon's parents must have made him invite everyone."

Connor rolled his eyes as he heard snickering behind him, but continued to pretend he hadn't heard a word. He knew that it wouldn't help any to turn around.

"I heard that even his own parents don't want him," Ed continued loudly. "He was just a mistake... I bet that his mom died just to try and get away from him."

Connor's hands balled into fists at the mention of his mother.

Ed must have noticed, since he immediately leaned as far forward in his desk as possible before adding, "And if his dad is smart, he'll do the same. He must already be sick of him."

* * *

"What happened to your face?" Charlie asked as Connor got into her car at the end of the school day with a painful looking black eye.

"I got into a fight," he mumbled back quietly as he stared out the window at the rest of the kids so that he wouldn't have to watch Charlie's reaction.

"Why?" She asked him.

Connor was silent for several long moments before he finally admitted, "He was making jokes about my mom."

Charlie wasn't sure how to react to that. Sure, she probably shouldn't be condoning fighting, but she also wasn't sure that she could really get mad at him when she thought about the circumstances.

She considered for a moment before she decided that she would let Bass determine if there would be any consequences and started the car.

* * *

Connor was in a particularly untalkative mood as he waited for his father to get home from work. He knew that his teacher had already called, which meant that there was zero chance of trying to hide what had happened from Bass.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Connor was afraid. He hadn't gotten in trouble for anything yet since moving in with his dad, so he had no idea of what his father's response would be.

What Connor did know was that he wasn't looking forward to Bass being mad at him and that he was already uncertain enough about whether or not his dad wanted him around on a good day.

Connor wondered whether Bass was going to wait until Charlie was gone or if he would just yell at him in front of her. He also wondered what could possibly get taken away from him as a punishment... It wasn't like he had much around here. If his dad decided that he wasn't allowed to use the TV or video games, then he was going to be completely back to square one and have no idea of what to do in this place.

As each minute passed, the pit of dread in Connor's chest tripled in size until finally he heard the sound of the front door opening.

Connor debated getting up and going to attempt to hide in his room, but he figured that it wasn't a very effective strategy. Plus, if he put off facing his dad for any longer, he would just be making himself fear it even more.

"I heard you got in a fight," Bass commented as soon as he spotted his son.

Connor nodded his head in response.

"Did you win?" Bass asked him.

Connor was taken off guard by his father's question. He wasn't sure of which response his dad would prefer, so he just opted for the truth.

"Yeah," he mumbled out almost inaudibly as he stared intently at the TV screen that he had spent the last hour ignoring completely.

"Good." Bass responded simply. "The little prick deserved it."

Connor looked up, expecting his father to be joking. Instead he was surprised to find that a grin had formed on Bass's lips.

Connor's teacher had called Bass earlier at work and told him all about the fight, including what she had overheard right before the fight had broken out. Although she had insisted that violence was not an appropriate response, no matter how horrible the things that the other kid had said were, Bass tended to disagree. He thought it was a perfectly reasonable reaction and was thrilled that his son had won the fight.

Connor was even more shocked when that seemed to be the end of the conversation as Bass headed for the kitchen, stopping only to ruffle his son's hair on his way by. Any other day, Connor would have complained and pulled away from his father's reach, but he was so relieved that he wasn't in trouble that he let Bass have his moment.

* * *

Bass had just grabbed himself a beer when Charlie walked into the kitchen and grabbed the drink out of his hand.

"You can have it back as soon as you tell me whether that kiss was a mistake or not," she told him.

A laugh escaped Bass's lips at that.

"Do you really think that I'm that much of a light-weight?" He asked her. "And you do realize that I can just get myself another beer, right?"

"You can, but you won't," Charlie insisted. "And if you want this one back, all you have to do is answer one simple question. Was that kiss a mistake?"

Bass studied her face for a moment before he finally responded with, "Yes."

"Okay," Charlie said.

She was glad to have the distraction of his drink to look down at as she passed it back over to him. She decided to try to hide her disappointment and forced a grin onto her lips as her gaze flickered back up to meet his.

"See? That wasn't so hard," she told him before turning to head back towards the living room.

"Wait a second, Charlie."

She stopped and turned around to find that he was now sitting on top of his kitchen counter, staring over at her with an unopened beer on the counter-top beside him.

"You're Miles' niece," he pointed out. "And Connor's babysitter. That kiss was definitely a mistake."

Charlie knew that what he was saying was probably true, but still was eager to escape the conversation. She wasn't sure of why he had stopped her from leaving the room. This was just starting to get uncomfortable.

"But Connor's got that birthday party Friday, which leaves my evening wide open," Bass added with a devious grin. "You got anything planned?"

"Didn't you just say this was a bad idea?" Charlie questioned.

"A bad idea's never stopped me before," he pointed out.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A ginormous thanks goes out to Angel438, rendairygoel, Daedalos, sammxhill, driver picks the music, LemonSupreme, JM2788, scifigirl10, saderia, mia, and the two anonymous guests for being awesome and reviewing last chapter! :)  
**


	5. Chapter 5

"Connor, come on." Bass called out, before muttering more to himself. "Move your ass."

When the boy still didn't come running, Bass sighed under his breath before turning to go look for him.

As he turned into his son's room, he asked, "Come on. Are you ready?"

Connor glared up at him. "I don't want to go."

"What? Why?"

Connor's decision couldn't have come at a worse time. They were already late leaving, Bass needed to get back before Charlie showed up, and he hadn't even started making dinner. Perfect.

Connor still hadn't given him any answers so Bass decided to press it a little further, "I thought you and this kid were friends."

"He invited everyone." Connor countered in an annoyed tone. "And I'm not really interested in going to a party filled with people I either hate or don't talk to."

Bass bit back a sigh as he told him, "You can stay home, but are you sure you want to?"

Connor scowled at his father.

"I'm positive... Relax, I'll hide in my room while Charlie's here," he promised in a scornful tone. He muttered under his breath as he added, "I may as well get used to staying out of the way while you give each other all your attention anyways."

Dammit. The kid liked Charlie, didn't he? Bass should have seen this coming. He certainly couldn't blame Connor for being interested.

It was already too late to call Charlie and try to reschedule and Bass wasn't sure that having Connor know he cancelled because of him wouldn't make things worse.

"You don't have to hide in your room, okay?" Bass asked him. "And me and Charlie aren't going to start ignoring you."

Connor remained silent. Sure, his dad said that now, but he still thought that there were only two options for how things could go. Either he'd end up miserable and ignored while they acted all couply, or else they'd break up and it would ruin things completely and Charlie would never be around. Either way, Connor knew that he would end up losing.

"Things are going to be weird whether things work with you and Charlie or not," he finally pointed out.

This was just another change that Connor got no say in. He was sick of everything changing. Nothing in his life was normal anymore and now even the one hint of normalcy he'd found since moving was being disrupted.

Bass leaned his weight onto his forearm that was resting halfway up the door frame.

"Things don't have to be weird," Bass countered before he paused for a moment. "...I'll make you a deal. How about you pick a movie and when Charlie gets here we'll all watch it?"

* * *

When Charlie arrived, Bass immediately stepped outside and closed the door behind him. That earned him a questioning look.

"Change of plans," he told her. "Connor didn't want to go to that party and he's convinced that things are going to get weird now, so I told him that he could stay home and pick a movie for the three of us to watch… Sorry."

"You're right, you should be sorry," Charlie teased playfully. "You should have forced your son to go to the party he doesn't want to go to and completely ignored the fact that he's upset... I should just go home now because caring about your kid makes you completely undateable."

"I was also planning on making you dinner, but I ran out of time and didn't even get the chance to start," Bass admitted.

"And the deal-breakers just keep on coming," Charlie joked. "Let's order take-out and watch whatever movie Connor picked out. In case you haven't noticed, I like Connor… And I like take-out."

* * *

Charlie sat down on the couch as she watched Connor intently reading the back cover on the box of a DVD.

Eventually he made his decision and put a disc in the DVD player before turning and coming over to sit down next to Charlie on the center seat of the couch.

"I wasn't expecting to get to see you," Charlie commented.

"Sorry." Connor muttered guiltily.

"Are you kidding? Now I get two of you for the price of one," she insisted with a grin.

A sheepish smile formed on Connor's lips in return.

Bass, who had been on the phone ordering food, walked back out of the kitchen, only to find Connor sitting in the only seat next to Charlie. He wasn't sure whether to be mad or just laugh as he sat down in the empty chair.

Charlie shot him an amused look from out of Connor's line of sight and he had to smile over at her before turning his gaze to his son. "Did you pick something?"

* * *

There was still more than half an hour left of the movie when Connor dozed off, curled up across two spots on the couch.

Charlie wondered to herself how he had been able to fall asleep in the middle of a scene filled with loud gunfire, but she didn't say anything out loud. She watched the rise and fall of his chest for a few moments as she appreciated how adorable he was as he slept. Somehow he seemed more vulnerable looking than he ever was while awake.

She looked over to Bass and watched him staring intently at the TV screen for a few moments before rising to her feet.

His gaze tore from the screen and he looked over at her and a small smile tugged at his lips.

Charlie sat down on the arm of his chair.

Bass glanced over at his son before looking back over at her and questioning, "Hot date, huh?"

"Actually, I've been having a great date with Connor," she joked. "…But now's your chance to steal me while he's asleep."

"Hmmm, aren't you a little old for him?" Bass questioned.

"Aren't you a little old for me?" Charlie countered in an amused tone.

"Maybe, but in my favour, you also can't get arrested for dating me," he countered.

"True. I guess you win by default," she told him.

"By default? Really?" Bass asked as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "I guess I deserve that. I know this wasn't exactly the date you were expecting."

"Maybe it wasn't the date I was expecting," she admitted. "But I'm still having a good time… Even with the cheesy action movie."

Bass let out a laugh at that. "Connor's asleep. We can turn the movie off."

"But then I won't know how it ends," Charlie pointed out.

"All you'll miss is a couple more dramatic gunfights, probably a helicopter chasing a car, maybe the main character getting into a car crash that probably should have killed him," he told her. "But in the end he'll miraculously survive, incredibly outnumbered, while all the bad guys get caught and/or killed."

"Hey, spoilers," Charlie insisted as she playfully hit him in the chest.

"Sorry," he muttered out. "But haven't you ever seen an action movie before? They're kind of all the same."

"So then why do you own so many?" She challenged as dimples stood out on her cheeks.

"Because I'm a guy," he responded in an amused tone. "And all guys like watching stuff get blown up… It's a rule."

They watched for a few minutes longer before a grin formed on Charlie's lips as a helicopter began to shoot down the street just as he had predicted.

She brought her attention away from the screen as she slid from the arm of the chair so that she was sitting next to him in the chair.

When he turned to look at her, she brought her lips to his.

Bass broke off the kiss a few minutes later as he commented, "Not that I'm complaining, but I thought you wanted to watch the end of the movie."

"Well, I did," Charlie told him before her lips twisted up into a wry smirk. "But somebody ruined the ending for me anyways."

"Somehow I don't regret that," Bass insisted before bringing his lips back to hers.

* * *

"Hey, you think that if I carry him to his bed that he'll wake up pissed tomorrow?" Bass questioned once the movie was over. "Because I've fallen asleep on that couch before and it's a real bitch to wake up on."

Charlie looked over at Connor as she thought it over for a moment before she turned her gaze back on Bass.

She figured that Connor would get mad and embarrassed if the subject was brought up, but that he would otherwise like the fact that Bass had been looking out for him.

"No, I think he'd be happy you did," she told him. "Just as long as you don't mention it in front of him."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to saderia, LemonSupreme, missing-a-place-ive-never-been, perfectmanhattan, driver picks the music, JM2788, The Insane Lover, and the anonymous guests for reviewing last chapter! :)  
**


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